Posts Tagged Giveaways

It’s the 3rd week of our 7th Anniversary Celebration and there are 8 AMAZING authors giving away their books right here, right now.  Check out the books and mini author interviews below. Get all the way to the end and enter to win!

KAT GREENE COMES CLEAN, by Melissa Roske (www.melissaroske.com)

Eleven-year-old Kat Greene has a lot on her pre-rinsed plate, thanks to her divorced mom’s obsession with cleaning. Add friendship troubles to the mix, a crummy role in the school play, and Mom’s decision to try out for Clean Sweep, a TV game show about cleaning, and what have you got? More trouble than Kat can handle—at least, without a little help from her friends. (release date August 22nd)

Question: How are you like your main character?

Melissa: Kat and I both have a parent with OCD (in my case, it’s my dad); we’re both huge fans of Louise Fitzhugh’s classic 1964 novel, Harriet the Spy; we both like to collect Snapple caps; we both love sushi; and we both have a dry, slightly sarcastic sense of humor. (Okay, more than slightly!)

 

INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF A CACTUS, by Dusti Bowling (www.dustibowling.com)

A move across the country, a friend in need of help, and a mystery to be solved. Aven Green is about to discover she can do it all… even without arms. (ARC)

Question: How are you like your main character?

Dusti: I like to think that, like Aven, I don’t give up easily. As a writer, that’s a really important trait because there are so many times when it’s tempting to give up, especially with how much rejection a writer can go through.

 

ONE SHADOW ON THE WALL, by Leah Henderson (www.leahhendersonbooks.com)

An orphaned boy in contemporary Senegal must decide between doing what is right and what is easy as he struggles to keep a promise he made to his dying father in this captivating debut novel laced with magical realism.

Question: What animal did you most enjoy writing about in a book and why?

Leah: The goat. In my debut, there is a wonderful family goat named Jeeg, which means lady in Wolof. Early critiques said she was not integral to the story and should be taken out, but for me, she was everything. Each time she was on the page I could smell her little hairs and sense her eyes taking in all that was around her. She was a link to the mother that I thought was too precious to lose. I was determined to keep her in the story and I am so happy that I did. Jeeg makes me smile.

 

THE DOLLMAKER OF KRAKOW, by R. M. Romero (www.rmromero.com)

In the land of dolls, there is magic and in the land of humans, there is war. Everywhere there is pain—but together, there is hope. (ARC)

Question: What’s one event from your life that you’ve never worked into a story but you’d like to?

R.M.: I take care of a feral (stray) cat colony with five members—Snow White, Cow

Cat, Socks, Harvey, and Whisper—and they’re fascinating to watch. They have squabbles and best friends, and they all look out for one another like they’re part of a little furry family. Each cat has such a distinct personality that it’s easy to imagine them being characters in a story I write someday! (Snow White is my favorite. She’s a beautiful white cat who loves everyone.)

 

AHIMSA, by Supriya Kelkar (www.supriyakelkar.com)

In 1942 after Gandhi asks each family to give one member to the Indian freedom movement, 10-year-old Anjali is devastated to think of her father joining. But he’s not the one becoming a freedom fighter. Her mother is. (ARC)

Question: What animal did you most enjoy writing about in a book and why?

Supriya: I really enjoyed writing about Anjali’s cow, Nandini, because their bond is so strong.

 

UNDER LOCK AND KEY, by Allison K. Hymas (www.allisonkhymas.com)

When 12-year-old retrieval specialist (not “thief”) Jeremy Wilderson botches a job and puts the key that opens every locker in the school in the hands of an aspiring crime kingpin, he must team up with his nemesis, 12-year-old private detective Becca Mills, to get it back.

Question: How do you select the names of your characters?

Allison: Funny story, actually. I liked the name “Jeremy” because I thought it was everyman while still being a little spunky. But, when it came to the last name, I was stumped until I went to class and my teacher wrote “wilderson” on the board instead of “wilderness.” I know a freebie when I see it!

I picked the names based on how I liked the sound, as I usually do, but when I looked up what their names meant later, I was happily surprised. “Jeremy” means “appointed by God” and “Wilderson,” as far as I can tell, means “to deceive or lead astray.” Not a bad name for a thief-like character who is trying to do the right thing. “Becca” means “snare or trap” and “Mills” could come from a word meaning “warrior,” which also suits my intense little detective.

 

UNDER SIEGE! by Robyn Gioia (www.robyngioia.com)

Two 13-year old boys most help save the Castillo de San Marcos fort from the English or the town will perish.

Question: What animal did you most enjoy writing about in a book and why?

Robyn: The alligator in Under Siege! because it brings the reality of hunger and survival to the surface.

 

THE GHOST, THE RAT, AND ME, by Robyn Gioia (www.robyngioia.com)

Bell wanted to be 8th grade president. What she got was a dead rat, a clue, and a ghost from the past.

Question: What’s the BEST writing advice you’ve ever received? (Or . . . what’s the WORST writing advice you’ve ever received?)

Robyn: It seems so simple, but the best writing advice I ever got was from my critique writing group in England. “How can I make this interesting for my readers?”

 

THE SECRET DESTINY OF PIXIE PIPER and PIXIE PIPER AND THE MATTER OF THE BATTER, By Annabelle Fisher (www.annabellefisher.com)

Poetry whiz kid, Pixie discovers she’s a descendant of Mother Goose and that her rhymes have special powers. But to join the Goose Family and protect their legacy, she must be ‘braver than brave’ and’ truer than true’!

 

Question: What animal did you most enjoy writing about in a book and why?

Annabelle: Writing about Pixie’s goose, Destiny was a lot of fun. Since Destiny first appears as an egg that Pixie finds in the woods, I got to go through the process of hatching a gosling in a home-made incubator, along with my character. I did a lot of research about pet geese and their humans. They have lots of personality! Pixie and her gosling have an amazing bond. It made me want to get a pet goose!

ENTER TO WIN!  There are 7 different ways to earn entries! You can leave a comment below, follow MUF on Twitter, share about the giveaway on FB, and more. Give yourself loads of opportunities to win by earning all 7 different types of entries. The giveaway closes at midnight (ET) on Tuesday, June 27th. Be sure to check back on Thursday, June 29th, for our final MUFiversary giveaway! (Eligible only to U.S. addresses.)

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Special thanks and congratulations to Monica Hodges who entered last week’s just-for-schools MUFiversary drawing and won a collection of new books for the library at JEFFERSON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL in Mount Vernon, WA!

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